Vampire Academy: The Complete Collection: 1/6 (68 page)

“I imagined it,” I whispered out loud into the darkness of my room. I had to have imagined it. Mason already haunted my dreams. I didn’t need to see him when I was awake too. “It wasn’t him.”

It couldn’t have been him, because the only way it could have been was . . . Well, that was something I didn’t want to think about. Because while I believed in vampires and magic and psychic powers, I most certainly did
not
believe in ghosts.

 

I apparently didn’t believe in sleep, either, because I didn’t get much of it that night. I tossed and turned, unable to quiet my racing mind. I eventually did drift off, but it seemed like my alarm went off so soon after that I could have hardly slept for more than a few minutes.

Among humans, the light of day tends to chase off nightmares and fear. I had no such daylight; I awoke to increasing darkness. But just being out with real and living people had nearly the same effect, and as I went to breakfast and my morning practice, I found that what I’d seen last night—or what I
thought
I’d seen last night—was growing fainter and fainter in my memory.

The weirdness of that encounter was also being replaced by something else: excitement. This was it. The big day. The start of our field experience.

For the next six weeks, I wouldn’t have any classes. I’d get to spend my days hanging out with Lissa, and the most I’d have to do was write a daily field report that was only about a half-page long. Easy. And, yeah, of course I’d be on guard duty, but I wasn’t concerned. That was second nature to me. She and I had lived among humans for two years, and I’d protected her the whole time. Before that, when I’d been a freshman, I’d seen the kinds of tests the adult guardians planned for novices during this phase. The ordeals were tricky, absolutely. A novice had to be on watch and not slack—
and
be ready to defend and attack if necessary. None of that worried me, though. Lissa and I had been away from the school our sophomore and junior years, and I’d fallen behind then. Thanks to my extra practices with Dimitri, I’d quickly caught up and was now one of the best in my class.

“Hey, Rose.”

Eddie Castile caught up to me as I walked into the gym where our field experience orientation would kick off. For a brief moment, looking at Eddie, my heart sank. Suddenly, it was like I was out in the quad again with Mason, staring at his sorrowful face.

Eddie—along with Lissa’s boyfriend, Christian, and a Moroi named Mia—had been with our group when we’d been captured by Strigoi. Eddie hadn’t died, obviously, but he’d come very close to it. The Strigoi who’d held us had used him as food, feeding from him throughout our capture in an effort to tease the Moroi and scare the dhampirs. It had worked; I’d been terrified. Poor Eddie had been unconscious for most of the ordeal, thanks to blood loss and the endorphins that came from a vampire’s bite. He’d been Mason’s best friend and nearly as funny and lighthearted.

But since we’d escaped, Eddie had changed, just like I had. He was still quick to smile and laugh, but there was a grimness to him now, a dark and serious look in his eyes that was always on guard for the worst to happen. That was understandable, of course. He pretty much
had
seen the worst happen. Just like with Mason’s death, I held myself responsible for this transformation in Eddie and for what he’d suffered at the hands of the Strigoi. That may not have been fair to me, but I couldn’t help it. I felt like I owed him now, like I needed to protect him or make things up to him somehow.

And that was kind of funny, because I think Eddie was trying to protect me. He wasn’t stalking me or anything, but I’d noticed him keeping an eye on me. I think after what had happened, he felt he owed it to Mason to watch over his girlfriend. I never bothered to tell Eddie that I hadn’t been Mason’s girlfriend, not in the real sense of the word, just as I never rebuked Eddie for his big brother behavior. I could certainly take care of myself. But whenever I heard him warning other guys away from me, pointing out that I wasn’t ready to date anyone yet, I saw no point in interfering. It was all true. I wasn’t ready to date.

Eddie gave me a lopsided smile that added a little boy type of cuteness to his long face. “Are you excited?”

“Hell, yeah,” I said. Our classmates were filling in bleachers on one side of the gym, and we found a clear spot near the middle. “It’s going to be like a vacation. Me and Lissa, together for six weeks.” As frustrating as our bond was sometimes, it nonetheless made me her ideal guardian. I always knew where she was and what was happening to her. Once we graduated and were out in the world, I’d be assigned to her officially.

He turned thoughtful. “Yeah, I guess you don’t have to worry as much. You know your assignment when you graduate. The rest of us aren’t so lucky.”

“You got your sights set on someone royal?” I teased.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Most guardians are assigned to royals lately anyway.”

That was true. Dhampirs—half-vampires like me—were in short supply, and royals usually got first pick of guardians. There was a time in the past when more Moroi, royal and non-royal alike, would have gotten guardians, and novices like us would have competed fiercely to get assigned to someone important. Now it was almost a given that every guardian would work for a royal family. There weren’t enough of us to go around, and less influential families were on their own.

“Still,” I said, “I guess it’s a question of which royal you get, right? I mean, some are total snobs, but lots of them are cool. Get someone really rich and powerful, and you could be living at the Royal Court or traveling to exotic places.” That last part appealed to me a lot, and I often had fantasies of Lissa and me traveling the world.

“Yup,” agreed Eddie. He nodded toward a few guys in the front row. “You wouldn’t believe the way those three have been sucking up to some of the Ivashkovs and Szelskys. It won’t affect their assignments here, of course, but you can tell they’re already trying to set things up after graduation.”

“Well, the field experience can affect that. How we’re rated on this will go into our records.”

Eddie nodded again and started to say something when a loud, clear feminine voice cut through the murmur of our conversation. We both looked up. While we’d been talking, our instructors had gathered in front of the bleachers and now stood facing us in an impressive line. Dimitri was among them, dark and imposing and irresistible. Alberta was trying to call us to attention. The crowd fell silent.

“All right,” she began. Alberta was in her fifties, wiry and tough. Seeing her reminded me of the conversation she and Dimitri had had last night, but I filed that away for later. Victor Dashkov was not going to ruin this moment. “You all know why you’re here.” We’d become so quiet, so tense and excited, that her voice now rang through the gym. “This is the most important day of your education before you take your final trials. Today you will find out which Moroi you’ve been placed with. Last week, you were given a booklet with the full details of how the next six weeks will play out. I trust you’ve all read it by now.” I had, actually. I’d probably never read anything so thoroughly in my life. “Just to recap, Guardian Alto will highlight the main rules of this exercise.”

She handed a clipboard to Guardian Stan Alto. He was one of my least favorite instructors, but after Mason’s death, some of the tension between us had lightened. We understood each other better now.

“Here we go,” said Stan gruffly. “You’ll be on duty six days a week. This is actually a treat for you guys. In the real world, you’re usually working every day. You will accompany your Moroi everywhere—to class, to their dorms, to their feedings. Everything. It’s up to you to figure out how you fit into their lives. Some Moroi interact with their guardians just like friends; some Moroi prefer you to be more of an invisible ghost who doesn’t talk to them.” Did he have to use the word
ghost
? “Every situation is different, and you two will have to find a way to work it out to best ensure their safety.

“Attacks may come at any time, anywhere, and we’ll be dressed in all black when it happens. You should always be on your guard. Remember, even though you’ll obviously know it’s
us
doing the attacking and not real Strigoi, you should respond as though your lives are in terrible, immediate danger. Don’t be afraid of hurting us. Some of you, I’m sure, won’t have any qualms about getting us back for past grievances.” Students in the crowd giggled at this. “But some of you may feel like you have to hold back, for fear of getting in trouble. Don’t. You’ll get in more trouble if you do hold back. Don’t worry. We can take it.”

He flipped to the next page of his clipboard. “You will be on duty twenty-four hours a day for your six-day cycles, but you may sleep during daylight when your Moroi does. Just be aware that although Strigoi attacks are rare in daylight, they aren’t impossible indoors, and you will not necessarily be ‘safe’ during these times.”

Stan read over a few more technicalities, and I found myself tuning them out. I knew this stuff. We all did. Glancing around, I could see I wasn’t alone in my impatience. Excitement and apprehension crackled in the crowd. Hands were clenched. Eyes were wide. We all wanted our assignments. We all wanted this to begin.

When Stan finished, he handed the clipboard to Alberta. “Okay,” she said. “I’m going to call out your names one by one and announce who you’re paired with. At that time, come down here to the floor, and Guardian Chase will give you a packet containing information about your Moroi’s schedule, past, etcetera.”

We all straightened up as she leafed through her papers. Students whispered. Beside me, Eddie exhaled heavily. “Oh man. I hope I get someone good,” he muttered. “I don’t want to be miserable for the next six weeks.”

I squeezed his arm reassuringly. “You will,” I whispered back. “Er, get someone good, I mean. Not be miserable.”

“Ryan Aylesworth,” Alberta announced clearly. Eddie flinched, and I instantly knew why. Before, Mason Ashford had always been the first one called on any class lists. That would never happen again. “You are assigned to Camille Conta.”

“Damn,” muttered someone behind us, who’d apparently been hoping to get Camille.

Ryan was one of the suck-ups in the front row, and he grinned broadly as he walked over to take his packet. The Contas were an up-and-coming royal family. It was rumored that one of their members was a candidate for when the Moroi queen eventually named her heir. Plus, Camille was pretty cute. Following her around wouldn’t be too hard for any guy. Ryan, walking with a swagger, seemed very pleased with himself.

“Dean Barnes,” she said next. “You have Jesse Zeklos.”

“Ugh,” Eddie and I both said together. If I’d been assigned to Jesse, he would have needed an extra person to protect him. From me.

Alberta kept reading names, and I noticed Eddie was sweating. “Please, please let me get someone good,” he muttered.

“You will,” I said. “You will.”

“Edison Castile,” Alberta announced. He gulped. “Vasilisa Dragomir.”

Eddie and I both froze for the space of a heartbeat, and then duty made him stand up and head toward the floor. As he stepped down the bleachers, he shot me a quick, panicked look over his shoulder. His expression seemed to say,
I don’t know! I don’t know!

That made two of us. The world around me slowed to a blur. Alberta kept calling names, but I didn’t hear any of them. What was going on? Clearly, someone had made a mistake. Lissa was
my
assignment. She had to be. I was going to be her guardian when we graduated. This made no sense. Heart racing, I watched Eddie walk over to Guardian Chase and get his packet and practice stake. He glanced down at the papers immediately, and I suspected he was double-checking the name, certain there was a mix-up. The expression on his face when he looked up told me that it was Lissa’s name he’d found.

I took a deep breath. Okay. No need to panic just yet. Someone had made a clerical error here, one that could be fixed. In fact, they’d have to fix it soon. When they got to me and read Lissa’s name
again
, they were going to realize they’d double-booked one of the Moroi. They’d straighten it out and give Eddie someone else. After all, there were plenty of Moroi to go around. They outnumbered dhampirs at the school.

“Rosemarie Hathaway.” I tensed. “Christian Ozera.”

I simply stared at Alberta, unable to move or respond. No. She had
not
just said what I thought. A few people, noticing my lack of movement, glanced back at me. But I was dumbstruck. This wasn’t happening. My Mason delusion from last night seemed more real than this. A few moments later, Alberta also realized I wasn’t moving. She looked up from her clipboard with annoyance, scanning the crowd.

“Rose Hathaway?”

Someone elbowed me, like maybe I didn’t recognize my own name. Swallowing, I stood and walked down the bleachers, robotlike. There was a mistake. There
had
to be a mistake. I headed toward Guardian Chase, feeling like a puppet that someone else was controlling. He handed me my packet and a practice stake meant to “kill” the adult guardians with, and I stepped out of the way for the next person.

Disbelieving, I read the words on the packet’s cover three times.
Christian Ozera
. Flipping it open, I saw his life spread out before me. A current picture. His class schedule. His family tree. His bio. It even went into detail about his parents’ tragic history, how they’d chosen to become Strigoi and had murdered several people before finally being hunted down and killed.

Our directions at this point had been to read through our dossiers, pack a bag, and then meet up with our Moroi at lunch. As more names were called, many of my classmates lingered around the gym, talking to their friends and showing off their packets. I hovered near one group, discreetly waiting for a chance to talk to Alberta and Dimitri. It was a sign of my newly developing patience that I didn’t walk right up to them then and there and demand answers. Believe me, I wanted to. Instead, I let them go through their list, but it felt like forever. Honestly, how long did it take to read a bunch of names?